Vipul Shah on directing Shefali Shah, Kirti Kulhari and importance of human trials in Covid times
Vipul Shah makes his digital debut with a medical thriller titled Human with Shefali Shah and Kirti Kulhari in the lead. It is against the backdrop of human trial of vaccine.
The director of films like Aankhen, Waqt, Namastey London and London Dreams, Vipul Shah, makes his foray into the digital world with a medical thriller titled Human featuring Shefali Shah and Kirti Kulhari in lead. The film is set against the backdrop of vaccine trial and the filmmaker insists that his show arriving in the times when coronavirus vaccine is in the forefront is purely coincidental. “This project was in the works for almost three and a half years now and back then, we didn’t know about the virus and the vaccine. It took us long to write because we have tried to simplify the process of human trials of vaccine in a way that the audience understand. Today, everyone is aware of what drug trial mean,” Vipul Shah shares.
One wonders if the show is set against the backdrop of coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent journey of finding the vaccine and Vipul clarifies that it’s not set-in today’s time. “It’s not about coronavirus, but about medical trials that take places across the world for decades now. This touches a topic that’s very big for humanity and the problems with drug trial is not a recent phenomenon. It’s a very important subject for the society,” he avers. Having come from the theatre background, Vipul made his debut as a director in 2002 with the thriller, Aankhen featuring Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Sushmita Sen and Paresh Rawal. Since then, he has made family drama’s and rom coms. And with Human, he gets back to the thriller space.
“It’s my dream project,” he beams, and adds, “I used to do these kinds of stuff in theatre and with Human, I am connected back to the roots. It’s a first for me on the web space and it’s completely opposite of what I have in 20 years of my Hindi film career.” Prod him about getting Shefali Shah and Kirti Kulhari to play the lead characters in the show and he signs off, “It’s an interesting combo to play these author backed roles. It’s a new space for both Shefali and Kirti, and you haven’t seen them do something like this before.”
The show went on the floors in Mumbai on January 21, and the filmmaker is gearing up to call it a wrap within a month. Mozez Singh, who is one of the many writers on board the show, is also co-directing Human with Vipul. It’s gearing up for a digital premiere this summer.